The Revenants
by Morse333
Summary: The Galactic Civil War is over, but the fighting never ends. This is the story of The Revenants, a special forces team sworn not to fight for the Republic, but each for their own mutual hatred of the Empire. Though each has spent a lifetime at war, they find themselves fighting now to preserve a peace they may never live to see.
1. The Endless War

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The tale of the Galaxy is a history of endless war. Battles and bloodshed staining the Stars as far as the eye can see on the clearest of nights and continuing on through the ages. The horrors scar everyone and everything, leaving nothing but a burning hole in the hearts of the masses.

But the greatest falsehood in this tale is that war ends. People lie to themselves and say that wars one day stop. They hear about diplomacy winning the day, and calmer heads prevailing. They hear whispers of a dangerous word, peace, and they let themselves believe that it's real.

History has had innumerable moments where diplomacy seemed to win the day. The Galactic Constitution which ended a millennium of Chaos. The Surrender of Mandalorians that destroyed their Empire. The Nationalization of Trade Federation that put an end to the Clone Wars.

And now there is a Galactic Concordance, ending the Empire and this Galactic Civil War.

Wars don't end, they take momentary pauses in the public eye, but they never truly stop.

We know this because we are the Revenants, ghosts left over from forgotten battlefields.

It's not a love of the Republic and Democracy that keeps us fighting. It's not the sense of duty and honor that keeps us united.

It's our understanding of what war is, and the undeniable truth that the Empire will do whatever it takes to bring this galaxy down with it.

Because the Empire is being laid into their grave, and it'll be the Revenants that make sure that once they're dead, they stay that way.

\- Kale Ramadi


	2. The Firestorm of Peace

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" _Don't be deceived by times of peace, for it is at these times that the most important battles are fought."_ \- Ramadi

 **Galdarot System**

 **Time in System – 4 Days**

 **Time Since Galactic Concordance – 5 Years**

"Our next speaker is Senator Ilsi of Bonoc. Senator Ilsi was among the first to reach out to the representatives of the Galactic Empire on her planet and bring the prospects of peace to her planet. She has served since on fifteen peace missions to worlds suffering from the turmoil of the war, and she now sits as the Chair of the Enduring Prosperity Committee. Let us welcome her to podium."

Applause was heard through the hologram as a short Rodian stepped out of view and was replaced by a slender human woman. It dies down as she prepares to speak.

"Thank you. It is on this day that we commemorate five years of peace in our Galaxy and see on to the brighter…"

THWAAAAAAM!

The large hologram projection board that hovered over the street, echoing out the words of the Senate Assembly on a system far away, suddenly exploded as a rocket streaked into it and obliterated half of the board. Sparks flew in every possible direction, reigning searing hot durasteel down onto the street.

"Frell!" Yelled out an older balding human with a smoking rocket tube in his hand. "They've got jammers!"

This misfired rocket had streaked down the street and reversed direction to fly directly above he and his compatriots.

"We've got to get out of here!" cried a middle aged human girl that stood behind him, a blaster pistol in her hand taking well aimed shots a cluster of white armored soldiers ahead of them.

"We have to retreat, sir." Whirred out a decreped Clone Wars Era battledroid "Where's the ship?"

"Do I look like I know where it is, 55?" The older man spat at the droid. "If I did I'd be on it!"

"Well we have to do something!" The woman yelled. "We're gonna die if we stay here."

"You got eyes on the ship, Imp!?" The older man demanded into his comlink, trying to speak over the blaster fire.

"ETA is supposed to be five minutes, Torrik. If you move they won't be able to find you." A much calmer voice replied through the comlink.

"If we stay we're gonna die, Imp." The battledroid responded.

"Tell em to step on it!" The older man replied.

"3rd squad! Where are you!?" The woman cried, but there was no response but static.

The scene on those streets of Sevecha City were not reminiscent of the speech that was being given on the floor of the Galactic Senate. It was not a moment of calm and peace where level heads were the winners of the day. It was not the air of tranquility that was promised, and it certainly was not a model for the galaxy to follow.

Several of the blocks of the city had been ripped into by blaster fire and explosions. Though not precisely the scope that the Galactic Civil war had been, it was substantially more then one would expect in a perceived time of peace, and certainly uncharacteristic of the New Order.

At the end of the street there was small group of troopers that no one could describe as young. They're clothing and armor were mismatched, and their weapons were anything but uniform. They did not appear to fight as a single unit, as much as they were acting like a group of rabid animals that were being cornered.

In front of them there was a speeder, smoking from its power cell which had clearly died and forced them to stall where they were. They clustered behind the vehicle for cover, returning fire as streaks of red blaster bolts raced over their heads.

On the other side of the street there were dozens of white armored Storm Troopers, with a supporting speeder reigning fire on their outnumbered adversary.

The Galactic Concordance gave strict limitations on numbers of Storm Troopers and where they were allowed to operate. Clearly their commanders had not cared about such things, and as it happened, neither did their enemy on the opposite side of the street.

In spite of the hopeless nature of the fight, the much smaller group did not adjust their ground. Their fires were quite effective to such a degree that the Stormtroopers refused to advance and simply held their own ground while they exchanged shots in the empty street.

"Imp! You mind helping us out a little bit!?" The older man, Torrik, yelled into the com once more.

"Do you want supporting fire, or do you want me to call in air support!? Which one is it!?" The calmer man spat back over the com.

"Both!" Torrik and the woman yelled back into the com simultaneously.

THOOO THOOO THOOO

Three consecutive green blaster bolts soared down from a nearby building and struck no less then three of the Storm Troopers on the opposite side of the street.

"It's called aiming, Torrik. Maybe you should try it." The calmer voice returned through the com.

"It's hard to aim when you've got this much shavit to deal with!" the grumpy old Torrik spat, charging a thermal detonator.

The older man lifted up a small launcher tube that was on his belt, loading the detonator into it, and fired it down towards the Storm Troopers that were away from them. Almost immediately a few blaster bolts came within centimeters of striking him and he ducked down, swearing as he did.

The Detonator exploded, sending hot flames and pressure at the Stormtroopers who were forced to duck down.

Just then static started to come over the Com.

"Revenant Two, this is Banshee. I'm coming in."

"Thank you, Gashon!" Torrik yelled back. "Finally good news."

"Danger close, Revenant. Take cover."

The sound of a thunderous engine could be heard echoing between the buildings and the small team on the ground looked at each other with fear.

"You've got to be frelling with me." The woman yelled.

"Get to cover!" The battledroid yelled, as the three ran off to hide inside of one of the lobby of one of the buildings.

Blaster bolts whizzed all around them only missing them by inches as they made their way inside. Just as they did the mighty engine grew unbearable loud and a concussion of booming laser cannon fire was heard.

BWAAAA BWAAA BWAAA

The power shook the ground slightly, with a violent force driving it to everyone's heart and chest. Everyone on the street looked up to see exactly what the source was. In the sky overhead there appeared a Marauder class gunship. Red and gray paint was born upon its side. The rush of its engines blew everything away, forcing refuse in the open ways down the street far away, whipping and getting caught on anything that stood in his path.

At the other side of the street the Imperial forces were struck hard by the blasts. They attempted to scatter but in vain as the heavy turbo blast landed at their feet. Still the marauder continued to fire. The ground continued to shake with every volley. The troopers attempted to return fire. But with every volley that they fired they were met tenfold with the volley of the canons.

With little option the troopers took cover. Some retreated further back to a more advantageous position. The remaining took cover in buildings nearby attempting to get away from the horrific volleys that were landing beside them. Any attempt at retaliation was left wanting.

Meanwhile the motley squad at the other end of the street beneath the marauder continued their attempts to return fire at the troopers. In that moment they seemed a bit optimistic, but they all knew better than to let it go to their heads.

"Put her down!" Yelled Torrik inside of his microphone.

There was no immediate response over the com link. Instead the blasts just firing, and so frustrated Torrik yelled out again.

"I said stop firing dammit!"

"I'm just cleaning up the street." The voice responded.

"The street is bucking clear." Torrik yelled in response, his eyes continuing to show his frustration. Down the street the Imperial seem to be in a sort of full retreat. They knew that there was little hope to be the gunship that was soaring overhead without much ordinance attached to it. They continue to cover with fire but it was futile.

The roar of the gunships engines overtook almost everything in the street. The woman that was there began to wave her arms and gestured to bring the gunship down to land. Finally after several minutes of already being in the air the gunship began to send. It brought itself down slowly and hesitantly but still lay down a base layer of fire from its heavy turbo canons towards the imperials on the other end of the street.

From the rear of the vessel a ramp dropped. It whirred downward quickly revealing that it was actually very heavy steel door. The gunship itself never actually touched the ground, its heavy repulsors holding it in the air. The ramp itself held nearly an inch over the ground, which gave the squad on the ground the opportunity to return to the air.

Without any additional words and gray coordination the group quickly made its way back onto the gunship that dropped them off.

The gunship deployment bay itself was tight, leaving very little room for anyone to move around much less just to sit. One was not meant to spend much time in here, it was simply an area to stage the troops out be deployed.

Torrik began making his way to the cockpit. It was really just a few short steps and through a door, which open the moment he approached it. The anger that was on his face was not echoed by his words. Beads of sweat poured down from his balding head and his thinning blonde hair stuck to his cranium.

Looking out he could see the devastation of the gunship caused. Smoke rose from crater holes that put in every corner of the street in buildings beside them. At least a dozen storm troopers were lying dead on the ground.

Those of this appeared to be a victory this was anything but. It was a narrow escape that was still not even assured.

"Any Plex launchers?" Torrik asked the pilot.

The pilot was Chiss, her dark blue skin and red eyes giving every bit of that away. Unlike the others she didn't seem to carry the same battle scars, but her face revealed that she'd seen her fair share.

"No," she replied "but you can bet your ass there to be finding one any second now."

Torrik appeared somewhat relieved by this. Without saying anything the gunship was already lifting off and heading up towards building not far away. The buildings vantage point was very high, but as they approached they could see the outline of someone who was moving. It seemed as though he had a lot of equipment with him, and he was hefting it up in both hands.

The gunship soared over him and stopped, and its ramp dropped allowing one last person to get on board the gunship.

The droid in the middle-age woman from the ground came into the cockpit.

"Rannik is on board." The woman said, her pistols holstered on the belt wrapped her waist.

"Well at least that's good news, eh Ryla?" Torrik said venting his annoyance to the woman.

The woman, Ryla, did not give a response. She just looked at the pilot.

"Zanna, what's the status?"

The pilot didn't look back but responded all the same. "Not good. There were a lot more than we thought."

"You're telling us?" Torrik echoed.

"We were supposed to covering a single squad." The Clone War B1 Battle Droid added with a whine. "That was at least a platoon."

"Stop pretending like you're tired, 55." Ryla told the droid, who appeared to be imitating the living people around it.

"Consider yourselves lucky." The pilot replied. "I've been hearing reports of AT-ATs, speeder patrols, and at least one flyby. And that was all from the sappers."

"Shavit." Torrik shook his head. "Gimme the com."

Torrik approach the console and took control of the communicator, so patching it through to their commander.

"Deckon. This is Revenant 2. We pulled out. What's your status, over?"

There was an immediate buzz of static that came back, alone with the sound of blaster fire.

"We're, chhhhhhhhhhh, heavy fire, chhhhhhhhhhh. Adjustments to, chhhhhhh."

Torrik put down the com. Trying to analyze out be a waste of time.

"We've got to get over there and pull them out." Torrik said.

"Too late." A voice came from behind them.

Rannik did not have the Imperial scout helmet that he had a moment earlier. His dark hair and oval eyes were just staring at Torrik.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" Torrik said.

"Firestorm protocol."

Everyone there knew what that meant. Though no one spoke a word their eyes darted from person-to-person, as though they were having an internal argument.

"Our frigate never they broke through their flotilla, and the troops of been evacuating to the outskirts of town." Rannik said coldly.

"How much time do you think we have?" Ryla asked.

"Not enough for me to ask." Zanna Gashon, the pilot, said.

She pulled back on the controls and they began to spin their way out of the city.

"Wait a second!" Ryla said, bracing herself. "There's still time, we can still warn them. Get them out."

No one seemed to back up her opinion. She looked at Torrik.

"The mission's trashed." Torrik said. "But she's right. Maybe we can still."

"We can't, and no I won't." Zanna replied, only increasing the power.

"This is Deckon we're talking about. He's always gone back for us. What's that say for us if we don't." Ryla pleaded.

"We don't have the room, or the time." Rannik discounted shaking his head.

"Alright, Imp! That's all I need to hear." Torrik spat. "Ryla's right, turn her around."

Torrik got on the com. "Deckon, we're coming to get you. You hear me? Deckon, we're…."

Suddenly there was a flashlight from the sky, which erupted with a mighty roar. A pelting torrent of rain ripped through the clouds. It shattered the peace of the air, clattering with green and red blasts. They seemed focused, converging on three separate points in the city. The blasts were wide, and explosions great.

The com immediately exploded with chatter and screams. The sounds of their friends the sounds of their comrades, all far less fortunate than they had been. Had they only read the signs, had they only had the knowledge than they might have been able to escape their fate. Instead there came only the sounds of their screams and the sudden silence that followed static.

From the cockpit of the gunship, Revenant 2 could not see the devastation on the ground beyond reading it through some monitors that displayed the sensors readouts. But the sound that came was critical, it let all of them know exactly what happened.

As the crackling of the static became ever louder, Torrik silenced the com.

There was nothing to say. They had done nothing wrong, and there was nothing that could have been done. But the look on their faces you would think that they had killed them themselves.

Rannik and Ryla left the cockpit. Torrik and 55 remained.

"Just get us back to base." Torrik told Zanna. "Call and tell them…"

"I know." She said, not needing Torrik to tell her what was expected of them now.

The gunship reach the atmosphere, and entered into a galaxy of perpetual silence, leaving behind them the bright glow that glistened on the planet that only minutes earlier had been there battlefield, and now served as the glassed tomb for their fellow Revenants.


	3. The Business At Hand

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" _When invited to meet with an old friend, get to the business at hand, before they get you drunk with stories from the past."_ – Ramadi

 **Valoria Defensive Installation**

 **Time Seneka System – 2 Hours.**

As Kale Ramadi stepped off of the transport and onto the ground he was greeted by the welcome site military installation in full working order, tucked into the fading afternoon light of Hentus Valley on the Seneka II. It was a pleasant view for soldiers such as himself. The sign and sounds of work being conducted, but in a peaceful place. Such a duality was one that filled him with joy. It was indicative of the progress that had been made.

In the five years since the signing of the Galactic Concordance the galaxy had found itself in place of relative peace. Gone were the days of the harsh Galactic Civil War, were scattered disorganize rebellion sought simply to assert its place in the galaxy, forging itself into a united front to topple an empire.

Still there were those that sought to take advantage of this time of transition. Pirates and criminals may transportation of supplies to suffering war torn worlds difficult. Violent separatists that wanted nothing to do with the Republic or the Empire played the part of bully to anyone that got near them. And of course there was the ever watchful subversion from the shadows of those that would see the days of the Empire return.

Such threats for why the Valoria Defensive Installation was built. A relative quick reaction force to anything that threatened the Republic in the mid rim near the Seneka Sector. It could deploy an army of peacekeepers, it could send forth a small fleet of protectors, and it could safeguard the space ways simply by existing.

The Republic now existed as the dominant power in the galaxy, the Empire shrinking under itself and the terms of the Galactic concordance. Stripped of its military but still suffering from the greed of its leaders, it was virtually incapable of imposing its will.

The Republic on the other hand remain strong and unified. It was wealthy, powerful, and prosperous. They were well supplied, and its volunteers eager to do their part.

Still as time drew on, the necessity of such defensive installations was becoming an ever more pressing question to the senate. What need was therefore a large military when there was no enemy to fight? Such enforcements of will was the exact evil that they had fought, and no one wanted to see the Republic turning to the Empire.

But in that moment Kale Ramadi felt confident that they had done their duty, even as the galaxy was transitioning to a new era.

His calling to Valoria had surprised him. He had previously been dueling smugglers on the far reaches of the outer rim on a good-faith mission that the Republic had for worlds that they thought might join the Republic one day. They'd been mostly successful in securing peace for the system, but just as soon as they seem to have their job completed he was transferred.

The details of his transfer were as of yet unknown to him. He did not necessarily know who had called on it or why, but that didn't bother Kale at all. If he was called away he knew there was a good reason for it and he would follow along suit, doing his duty as best he could.

The data pad which carried his orders told him to go directly to headquarters, which he did not hesitate to do. He carried all of his possessions with them in a bag, and he moved through the base with these.

He dodged ordinance carriers, passed by droids that were carrying supplies, and made his way past large speeders that were being moved from one side of the base to the other. The beautiful violet mountains that were in the distance did not even cast a shadow down on the base, merely added a delightful ambience match with the beautiful wind in which everyone worked.

The base headquarters was the largest building there, short of the tower that controlled all outgoing air traffic. It was a large triangular structure, that in fact reminded him of some Imperial headquarters that he'd seen before. In a moment he wondered if this base had originally been an Imperial base, as such would not have surprised him and least.

Kale Ramadi moved through the headquarters, being sure not to get into anyone's way. His uniform was similar to those of the other public soldiers, but a boarr deployment patch the outer rim, which would garner him a certain degree of respect.

He approached the desk where an orderly sat and worked.

"Excuse me." Kale said, offering his data pad. "I'm newly transferred and am here to report in."

The orderly looked up at him, and took hold of his data pad. He hooked it into his own system, and read the readout.

"Hmm." The orderly remarked.

"Something wrong?" Kale asked.

"Corporal Zen." The orderly asked of a trooper passing by. "Can you escort this man to Colonel Teeg's office?"

"Of course." The Corporal said.

"Thank you." Kale said taking back his pad.

The soldier led Kale to an elevator, which then took him to one of the upper floors and opened up to a serene hallway. It was clean and well-maintained with very few people passing from one into the other. He let him further down to an office that was marked as "Special Taskings."

"I'll take it from here." Kale told the trooper. "Thank you."

Kale buzzed the door, which then opened.

"Kale!" Came a lumbering voice from inside.

Kale stepped inside of the office and gave a bow. "Colonel Teeg."

The office itself was fine and luxurious. Several fine paintings hanging from the walls and there were several sculptures that were around the office. Many of them were from the Imperial era, which was common of many officers in the Republic who had taken them on his trophies. There was a window to the rear which carried a fantastic view of the mountains, as well as overlooking the base where a set of fighters flew by.

Behind the desk there was a somewhat overweight Trandoshan. His green lizard skin seemed a bit pale, and he bore scar across his right eye. One of his fingers was missing on his left hand, and his talons were all chipped. There was a burn on his neck, and as he took a step forward one could not help but notice his robotic leg.

The two shook hands immediately, with a cordial greeting.

"How long is it been, Kale?" Colonel Teeg asked.

"Four years." Kale responded.

"Only for?" The Colonel asked. "It seems like so much more."

The Colonel then offered him a seat and gestured to a side table. "Can I get your drink, Kale?"

"If you knew my father, you'll know I was raised wanting a drink." Kale replied.

"Only by reputation." The Colonel answered, pouring a glass for Kale and himself of a green liquid on the side table from what appeared to be a new bottle.

"How's life on the outer rim?" The Colonel asked.

"The same as always." Kale replied. "But getting better everyday."

"Well I know with you on the job they have to be." The Colonel said.

"You give me too much credit." Kale answered. "Malit Moons was a long time ago."

"And you did good work there." The Colonel commented.

"They were your ideas, Colonel. I'm just the guy you had execute them."

The Colonel raised his glass. "And not everyone can get a Trandoshan slavers and Wookiee freedom fighters to work together. My idea was crazy. You were the one that made it work."

Kale nodded and took a drink.

"Why do I get the impression that's why you've called me here?"

The Trandoshan clicked his tongue with a smirk.

"You're too quick for me, Kale. You just arrived. I thought we'd reminisce and then get to the business."

Kale shrugged. "I like to talk about business more then I like to reminisce. The past is… the past."

The Colonel nodded. "Right you are." The colonel set his cup glass down, and tapped a button which closed the open door behind Kale.

He cleared his throat and started looking through his data pad.

"What do you know about Operation Hailfire?"

Kale shook his head. "Not much." He set his glass down. "Imperial remnants getting a bit rough with some locals, and running when the Republic Fleet showed up."

The Colonel nodded. "That's the gist of it. Big win for Republic."

Kale nodded as well.

"Well that's not all there was to it. At least from my perspective." The Colonel continued.

"I got that feeling." Kale agreed.

"See that them running away was the solution. But there weren't a lot of people at the time that were wanting to ask why the Imperials were doing it in the first place." The Colonel noted. "So I did a bit of looking around."

"What'd you come up with."

Colonel Teeg gave a light groan. "Not much, but what I did doesn't seem good."

Kale did not move from his position. "What have you got?"

"See the Empire typically thrives on the aspect of power and control. They don't seem to have much interest in anything else except absolute obedience. And the only real tool they use for it is overwhelming force." The Colonel spoke.

"This sounds like they were acting fairly normally then." Kale shrugged.

"Yeah, but not exactly. See there's a little more to it. While the bulk of there force was engaged with the populace, they sent a smaller detachment elsewhere, the Galdarot system. And they put down a lot of detailed information on it being a vital part of their mission."

"So what happened?" Kale asked.

"We did what you might expect. If something's vital, then you have to send the best you've got. And the special forces unit we sent walked into what felt like a complete ambush. Never seen anything like it."

"Was it a trap?" Kale inquired, somewhat confused.

"And that's just it! They risked a huge force, for what seemed like an attempt to snap up this small group, and it worked. We wove around flags looking at a huge victory, when it seems like they got exactly what they wanted."

"Which was?"

"The Rebellion didn't succeed because of overwhelming numbers and power, Kale. It won because of groups like this. Yet out of no where they seem to figure out how to stop them? And the worst part is… that doesn't even seem like it was their entire objective, just a fortunate byproduct for them."

The Colonel seemed gravely concerned, which put Kale on edge.

"What do you think their real purpose with the system was?" Kale pondered.

"I don't know." The Colonel said. "But I want to find out."

"Which is where I come in." Kale mused with an exhale.

"Precisely." Colonel Teeg nodded.

"I don't have a lot of experience with large units, Colonel." Kale attempted to dissuade the Colonel.

"I'm not giving you one." Colonel Teeg said. "In fact I'm hardly giving you a detachment, so much as a… test of your leadership."

Kale didn't respond, merely cocked an eyebrow curiously.

The Colonel chuckled with a shrug.

"The Revenant Company was completely wiped out in this operation, with the exception of one team."

"One team?" Kale inquired taking a sip from his drink.

"Smallest unit they had, but have a pretty serious history that I thought might suit you."

"How many?" Kale wondered.

"At the moment, five of them." The Colonel answered.

Kale couldn't help but laugh. "Five!?" He echoed. "That's not enough to take a barracks?"

"Maybe your average five troopers. But these aren't them." The Colonel answered.

Already understanding that he was to be assigned to this surreal attempt at a heroes tale, Kale opted to continue. 

"Alright… who are they?" Kale asked, not sure what to expect.

Colonel Teeg chuckled, and tapped a finger on his desk, which then brought up a hologram of five different beings. The holorecordings were clearly taken at different times but they had been matched up there specifically.

"Spent a lot of time planning this have we, Colonel?" Kale noted with a smirk.

Colonel Teeg ignored it, and tapped on the first one. The Hologram enlarged on a middle aged Chiss woman in what appeared to be an Imperial Flight suit. Pilot certifications moved on a readout beside her which was nothing short of impressive.

"Zana Gashan, sometimes called the Flygirl. She's got a battle flight log resume that's longer then both your legs put together. She flew during the Clone Wars, instructed at the Imperial TIE academy, for the Zelawan Pirates, the Covot Smugglers, and most recently for the Republic."

"I'm familiar with the Zelawan pirates. They don't screw around." Kale commented.

"No they do not, but according to her, they kept her on the ground too much." The Colonel mentioned. "She'll be flying your bird."

Kale did not move as the Colonel switched to the next Hologram. It enlarged a dark haired male human, who was wearing was easily identifiable as a set of scout trooper armor, which had a different color painted on it and rebel markings.

"Rannik Dalgus, formerly SJ-481. "The S-Man" of 381st Scout Battalion. Defected to the rebellion after Hoth, and has been pegging targets for us ever since. Knows all sorts of information on the inside of the Imperial mind, and is hell of a shot to boot."

"Useful kind of guy for this kind of thing." Kale commented.

The Colonel moved the Hologram over to the next, which was a girl that Kale could only see as being absolutely beautiful. She was a bit older then he was perhaps, but her wonderful brown hair came down her shoulders. She bore two pistols and had a sort of majestic flow to her movements.

"Ryla Seren is a bit of an enigma here even to us. One of the best quick shots I've ever seen, but she's been bouncing from one rebel cell to another since the Petition of the 2000. She's pretty, but she isn't a joke. Reputation says she can get in anywhere and get you whatever you want out of it. Her methods are… a bit on the mysterious side, but the results speak for themselves.

"I see." Kale nodded, his eyes fixed on her.

The Colonel glinted a smile, and moved the hologram.

This time it brought up two individuals, rather then just one.

On the left there was an older looking human, a gut hanging over his stomach, in a beat up aged set of armor. His hair was thin and faded and he himself looked like a grizzled bar brawler. Beside him was a very old Clone Wars era battle droid, which was absolutely strapped with weapons and equipment.

"Who the hell are these two." Kale asked, with the unwanted switch.

"Varrin Torrik, and his droid 55." Colonel Teeg answered. "Old and angry is the only real word for them. They aren't exactly rebels. They were Separatist hold outs from the Clone Wars for years. They've got more battle experience against then most of the galaxy, and they're still living to tell about. They only joined up with the rebellion at the last minute, and they fight like hell through anything. Just looking at them can give one a flash back that they weren't even there for."

Kale looked them over, the blue hexagon symbol on them rather then the Republic symbol, and he started to formulate an idea. Kale began to get his very specific picture in his head, and it wasn't one that he particularly liked. All of their histories and records were speaking for themselves, but not exactly in the way that he preferred, or would anyone.

Using on their history and talents he started to see an equation for one of the least cohesive units he could ever imagined. And in that he decided he had to ask a very simple question.

"Colonel… do any of these troops even like the Republic?"

The Colonel had a weak smile and gave a shrug.

"From what I can tell, not in the slightest." The Colonel answered. "I won't lie to you, Kale. Is on exactly the ideal versions of cohesion. Dalgus is on record as having been drafted rather then face execution, Gashon was up to her neck in debt and saw an easy way to get a ship, the Separatists just seem to hate everything that wears white duraplast, and Serren… I don't really know why she's still here."

"I'd venture to guess that they hate each other as much as the enemy." Kale suggested.

"With conflicting backgrounds like thesem I can imagine what give it away." The Colonel joked.

Kale was not particularly happy, but he started to realize exactly why the Colonel had called. He had a spoken track record for getting people to work with each other that didn't want to at all, and beyond that he was somebody that the Col. could trust. When it came to the clandestine businesses that special forces operated within, there was almost no one better than he was, as much as he hated to consider that fact.

Though he was not particularly running from the assignment, Kale knew that it would take a lot of work. He knew that he was not enough to accomplish this mission, nor were six alone. He would need some outside help, someone that he could trust.

"I want to bring on a few of my own." Kale said "Some who I've worked within the past that I know I can at least count on."

"With records like these, I'm sure you can count on these people." The Colonel answered. "But their ship has room for eight, so I can give you two more."

"I'll get you their names soon. I'm assuming you'll have a full mission briefing for me in the next few days?" Kale asked.

"Assemble your team, Kale." Colonel Teeg said. "Make sure this task as possible, and when you're sure you can get something done, I'll give you the details on your mission."

Kale nodded and took one final sip on his glass.

"I think you're me another drink, Colonel." Kale said with a reluctant smile.

Colonel Teeg gave a chuckle and the two began to reminisce on times before.


End file.
